“Next stop: Ponyville station.“

“Finally!“ Scootaloo stretched her nearly numb limbs with a satisfying pop. She looked her own reflection over one more time in one of the train's windows and grinned wide. Trusty black top, khaki shorts, messy purple mane. Oh yeah, she was back!

She hopped out of the car, only barely resisting the urge to strike a pose. There weren't that many ponies traveling from Hoofington to Ponyville via train. She had so much space to herself, she felt like a celebrity. She just needed some screaming fans to make the picture complete.

None of the ponies around her looked like 'rabid fan' material. Except for a teal filly sharing Scootaloo's classes, Toot something-or-other, currently walking along the street with one arm awkwardly rubbing the other. She was dressed very airy, even considering the pleasant summer warmth. Red hot pants and vest, no wonder she kept hugging herself; she was probably cold. Or embarrassed. Or both.

“Scoots! Over here!”

Two sets of running hooves announced Apple Boom and Sweetie Belle running up to greet her in person. Awesome, she thought, I can't wait to tell them about our training! She whirled about to return their greetings but had to pause at the sight before her.
Like, woah!

Both of her friends had chosen to wear something slightly more... daring, than usual.
Apple Bloom had switched out her usual jeans overall for a pair of tightly-hugging daisy dukes. The white shirt she wore barely kept her bouncy Apple Family bust in check. Next to her, Sweetie Belle wore a miniskirt that ended well above her knees, and running as she was now and then revealed the very edge of some very frilly pink panties. However, Scootaloo soon found herself distracted from them by a two-pronged tackle-hug assault.

"Ha ha ha, mercy! I give!"

It took the laughing pile of young mares a little to get all the hugging and greeting out of their system. When they finally had, Apple Bloom suggested they talk over ice cream and cold drinks at Sugarcube Corner.

“Alright! I haven't had a good ice cream in weeks!” Scootaloo whooped. “Lead the way”

The ice cream was, unsurprisingly, very delicious. The Pegasus moaned in obvious bliss and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, while her companions watched with barely hidden amusement. She really couldn't help herself, it was just so good!

But even that and their idle chit-chat couldn't keep her attention away from noticing a few interesting developments. She hadn't seen hair nor tail of Pinkie Pie, and the other girls told her she was busy with 'preparations', whatever that meant.

Silver Spoon walked by at some point, all by herself. She'd gone from her normally modest pink skirt to some yoga pants. Very, very tight yoga pants. She drew more than a few eyes like this, but she was obviously used to the attention. That, or her glasses were defective.

Somewhere in the background, Dinky chatted up an older Pegasus stallion, probably an uncle of hers. They shared many laughs and more than once, Scootaloo thought she'd seen the Unicorn blush from something that was said. With her pretty white dress leaving her shoulders exposed and her plunging neckline, she looked like she could've been printed right on the cover of one of those racy books her aunt seemed to hoard.

“Scootaloo? Yo, Equestria to Scoots?”

Apple Bloom's concerned voice tore her back to her own conversation. Unfortunately, she'd missed the last few sentences.

“Eheheh, sorry girls, just a little distracted by something. What did you wanna know again?”

Apple Bloom pushed her own, now empty plate away and leaned a little closer. Sweetie Belle still nursed her own iced chocolate.
Actually, she nursed the straw more than she chocolate itself. She'd asked for—and gotten—a thick purple straw. She kept wrapping just the tip of her lips around it, or tracing it with her tongue.
Awkward.

“Ah said, what were ya doin' over with your aunt? You wrote somethin' about dancin', but that was like weeks ago. Probably didn't spend all the time jus' dancin', right?” She broke into a smirk at the idea. “Ah can hardly believe you're one for dancin' anyway. Just a year ago Ah would've bet good bits you'd sooner join a book club than do that. Well, at least a Darin' Do book club.”

“Now now, play nice,” scolded Sweetie Belle with a mock scowl, “we all have things we do now that we didn't think we'd be doing then.” The Unicorn turned her attention towards Scootaloo. She smiled brightly, twinkling her eyes and motioning for Scootaloo to answer.

“Yeah.” Scootaloo scratched the back of her head. “We, uh, we did some other stuff too. She used to be a guard in Cloudsdale, so showed me some other neat stuff. Like how to make your hoofsteps really really quiet!” She leaned back, pointing a thumb at herself and grinning.
“I'm some kinda superspy ninja-pony now. Way cool, huh?”

Her Earth Pony friend snorted a poorly suppressed giggle. When she felt purple eyes glare at her angrily her ears splayed back.
“Sorry, sorry. It's jus', your coat. Orange ain't the first thing Ah think of when Ah hear 'ninja-pony'. But hey, Ah didn't mean to insult you or anyth—“

Unfortunately, as Apple Bloom tried to reach for her friend, she accidentally pushed over her drink. The glass tipped over and spilled its entire chilly content all over the Earth Pony's front; she yelled from the sudden cold.
“Aw, jeez! Cold, cold, gimme a napkin Sweetie Belle, quick!”

Scootaloo didn't notice Apple Bloom's shivering and trying to wipe off her shirt. She didn't notice Sweetie Belle's scrambling for a napkin, either. Her attention was fully occupied by what the unexpected splash of water had revealed. She tried to blink the sight away, failed, and tried again. When it was clear the image wouldn't go, she half-yelled in shock:
“You got your nipples pierced?!”

The other crusaders stopped.
Apple Bloom looked at Scootaloo, then Sweetie Belle. She did the same. They had some sort of silent communication, after which Apple Bloom turned back to Scootaloo. She shrugged, completely nonchalant.

“Yup.” She flicked one of the golden rings adorning her nipples. They looked kind of heavy; Scootaloo imagined they probably tugged on Apple Bloom's chest whenever she wore a tighter top. If nothing else, they made them stand out like stiff rocks on top of two hills of bouncy mareflesh.

“My coltfriend asked me to get 'em. 'If you like it, you should put a ring on it' 's what he said. Ah kinda agree, they look and feel really nice.”

'And you went along with that?!' is what Scootaloo first wanted to shout, until her brain registered the other horseshoe dropped on her head without warning.
“You got a coltfriend?! How—I mean, who? When?” She helplessly sought Sweetie Belle's gaze, who only shrugged as well. “Why didn't you tell me? When did that happen?”

“About two weeks ago.”

“Two weeks?!” Scootaloo couldn't believe what she heard. Two weeks, and Apple Bloom agreed to have several holes punched in her body where there weren't normally supposed to be any, all for the sake of this 'coltfriend' of her?
“Who is it? Anypony I know?”

Apple Bloom raised a brow.
“It's Snips. The colt with the scissors cutie mark.”

If Scootaloo thought the first revelation was weird enough, the second turned out to be even weirder. Snips? The colt with the buck teeth? Number One of their class' loser squad?
“You're dating Snips of all ponies?”

As soon as the words left her muzzle, she knew she'd made a mistake. Her friend scowled hard enough to curdle milk and make baby ponies cry. Scootaloo couldn't help but flinch.

“Ah'll have you know who Ah like is nonna ya business,” Apple Bloom coldly informed her, “if'n you gonna be like this, Ah have nothin' more to say to you.”
She turned to leave. Before she could rise, though, Scootaloo held her back by her sleeve.

“Woah, sorry, AB. Sorry, I should've been more open. It's just, all a bit much at the same time. You never mentioned any of this in the letters, and I overreacted.” She let go of the other filly's sleeve and lowered her head in contrition. She really did feel bad about making Apple Bloom mad at her.

Apple Bloom studied her for a few seconds—though it seemed much longer to the Pegasus—and gave her another smile.
“Apology accepted.”

Scootaloo let a breath go she didn't know she'd held back. That soon turned into a chuckle, with the other two quickly joining in. The tension was mostly gone now, so Scootaloo felt a little more confident to ask for more about what had happened while she was gone.

“Okay, so you got a coltfriend.” She shook her head. “Still can hardly believe it. Next you're going to tell me Sweetie Belle also found a coltfriend.”

Sweetie Belle noticeably avoided eye contact with her.

“Oh come on! Seriously? When were you going to tell me any of this?”

The Unicorn filly bit her lip, before sighing and looking back to her. Scootaloo thought she could see just how much this topic troubled her friend. Maybe it had been a mistake to pry even more, but what was done was done now. No sense in looking backwards.

“It's not like that, Scootaloo. I... I have someone I really, really like, but... Well, I haven't told him that yet.” Her eyes dropped low and her ears drooped, while her voice became a mumble.
“I just haven't found the right time yet. But I'm going to do it soon, you'll see.”

Apple Bloom, for her part, had crossed her arms over her impressive bust and regarded Sweetie Belle with a look between amusement and exasperation. Scootaloo remembered the look from back whenever the Unicorn tried sewing and ended up creating an abomination of cloth and thread.

“If you wanna know who she's got her sight on,” she started, pointedly ignoring Sweetie's fiery blush and silent begging to shut up, “here's a hint: He's green 'n purple and works at the castle. Also, he's a dragon.”

Scootaloo blinked.
There was only one dragon in all of Ponyville.
“Spike?” she asked. Judging from Sweetie Belle's frustrated groan and how she'd put her face in her hands, she was correct.

“Wow. Okay, did not see that coming.” She pursed her lips when the memory of a few photos made at the wedding of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor popped up—a memory of a particular Unicorn and drake dancing together. Dancing together, in her now trained and well-funded opinion, like total geeks.
“Though perhaps I should have.”

“Look, girls,” Apple Bloom interrupted her thoughts, “it's getting' late. Ah had fun 'n all, but Ah need to git back home for some chores.”

She got up, fumbling in her pockets. Sweetie Belle also rose and put enough cash on the table to cover them all. That prompted Apple Bloom into giving her a dirty look, even as she took the offered hospitality.
“Thanks. Anyway, Ah'll see you two tomorrow in school.”

With that, Apple Bloom left. Scootaloo felt her gaze drawn right at her subtly shifting, muscular backside. With the way her daisy dukes were riding up, she could see every little movement. She had to tear herself away from it when Sweetie addressed her with a clearing of her throat.

“I'll be off as well. Bye, Scootaloo. “ A shy smile bloomed on her muzzle. “Maybe I'm going to ask Spike out for tomorrow on my way. Wish me luck!”

“Bye Sweetie.” Scootaloo awkwardky waved at Sweetie Belle's already retreating form. Now that she was alone, she turned towards her own home, absently flapping her wings while she digested everything.
Apple Bloom has a coltfriend. Sweetie Belle has a crush on Spike. And they all started wearing clothes that belong in some stallions' magazine.
She sighed.
I think I'm getting a headache from thinking about this too much.

She took a look around to get her mind off of things, but nothing she saw was overly interesting. The most notable thing was a big poster in Ponyville Pet Shop's main window. Apparently leashes were fifty percent off, in preparation of something or other called Leash Day.

“Leash Day, hm? I wonder what that is.”

Author's Note

So, there you have it. First chapter of the first story.

There's lots of room for improvement; I feel that the chapter's pacing isn't as good as it could be, and it lacks a lot of descriptive elements. Definitely something I need to work on.

I'm grateful for any constructive criticism!